CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou drops brutal truth about America's torture program

John Kiriakou was imprisoned for exposing the CIA's torture program, while the individuals who ordered, implemented, and funded the torture were protected by the Obama administration's policy to 'look forward, not backward.' This decision effectively shielded high-ranking officials from accountability.

Kiriakou states, 'the White House protected them. the Obama administration made a decision that... they would look forward not backward... the torturers would be protected... everybody was protected but I broke ranks and I went public and going public was unforgivable.'

Kiriakou's case was intended to serve as a stark warning to others within the government who might consider exposing waste, fraud, or abuse. The severe personal costs—loss of freedom, pension, career, and even relationships—are designed to keep potential whistleblowers silent.

Kiriakou quotes his attorney: 'This case is meant to frighten everybody else who's thinking of blowing a whistle or opening their mouths to talk about waste, fraud, or abuse because you lose your freedom. You lose your pension.'

Kiriakou asserts that the CIA's torture techniques, including waterboarding, were explicitly banned by multiple existing US and international laws, including the Federal Torture Act of 1946 and the UN Convention Against Torture. Historically, waterboarding was a capital offense for Japanese soldiers and led to a 20-year sentence for an American soldier in Vietnam. Furthermore, torture is ineffective for intelligence gathering, as prisoners provide false or mixed information to stop the pain, requiring extensive analysis to discern truth.

Kiriakou states, 'We've got multiple laws in the United States on the books right now that ban torture... In 1946, we executed Japanese soldiers who had waterboarded American prisoners of war.' He adds, 'when you torture somebody, they're going to tell you what you want to know, but it's going to be mixed in with so much garbage that you're going to need 6 months for your analyst to go through the information to figure out what's true and what's not true.'

The CIA's torture program originated in October 2001, shortly after 9/11, when psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, former Air Force contractors, reverse-engineered the military's SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to be used on prisoners. They were paid between $80 million and $108 million for their services and training.

Kiriakou explains, 'It started at a cocktail party in October of... 2001... two friends who had been contractors with the Department of the Air Force named... James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, both psychologists... They reverse engineered it so that we could do it to our prisoners.'

The United States, while condemning human rights abuses in other countries, engaged in torture and maintained secret prisons, undermining its moral authority and diplomatic efforts. Kiriakou argues that the US cannot be both a 'shining city on a hill' and a nation with torture chambers.

Kiriakou states, 'If we're going to, you know, yell at other countries about human rights, don't you think we should be respecting human rights, too? Otherwise, we look like fools.' He adds, 'We can be the place that has torture chambers and dungeons... Or we can be that beacon of hope. But we can't be both.'

Kiriakou believes that breaking the law to expose government illegality is justified and a 'patriotic duty,' especially when a criminal act (like torture) is illegally classified. He argues that the public has a right to know when the government is operating outside the law.

Kiriakou states, 'There is also a law in this country that makes it illegal to classify a crime. So if there's a criminal act like torture, it is illegal to make that a classified program. And so I think it's a patriotic duty to go public when the government is breaking the law.'

Kiriakou, a third-generation Democrat, became disillusioned with the Democratic Party, viewing them as 'apologists for the neoliberal leadership,' corrupt, and hypocritical on human rights. His experience led him to embrace Libertarianism, aligning with the idea that 'government is the problem, it's not the solution.'

Kiriakou states, 'The Democrats today are no more, literally no more than apologists for the uh the neoliberal uh leadership. Um they're are corrupt. They're are liars. They don't care at all about human rights or civil rights or civil liberties.' He also quotes Ronald Reagan, 'government is the problem. It's not the solution to the problem.'